Roger Highfield warns in the Telegraph, of a new genetic test to screen unborn babies for thousands of genetic disorders: “What is considered acceptable will vary a great deal from person to person, let alone between cultures” (‘Unborn babies can be screened for 3,500 disorders’, Telegraph, June 7). In China and India, ‘culture’ dictates millions of times over that having a baby girl is unacceptable. Notwithstanding our own ‘freedom to choose’, our health services operate a ‘search and destroy’ approach to disability, which they admit is for economic reasons, and parents who ‘allow’ the birth of a disabled baby have been accused of negligence or selfishness. There is growing support for the view that the disabled should be ‘helped to die’, the implication being that we are better off dead, and that anyone who objects is guilty of ‘inflicting suffering’ on others.
The scientists involved in this new development say… Read more